Rachel Portman
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Rachel Portman
Biography
Long known for her luxuriant romanticism and uncanny ability to find just the right chord between onscreen drama and viewer emotions, composer/songwriter Rachel Portman has been scoring films consistently and tirelessly since 1982. With more than 30 credits to her name, and work in both television and film, Portman became an important figure in the history of film in 1997 when she became the first female composer to win an Academy award for her score to director Douglas McGrath's adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma.Born on December 11, 1960, in Haslemere, England, Portman showed an avid interest in music when she began to play a variety of instruments from a very early age. By the time she had reached her early teens, Portman had taken a strong affection towards the piano and begun composing original music. Drawn to the more naturalistic musical instruments rather than electronic synthesizers, Portman decided to pursue her career in music with an education at the University of Oxford.
It wasn't until her enrollment at Oxford that Portman began to take an interest in the relation of music to film, scoring Privileged (1982), a successful student film also featuring an early appearance by Hugh Grant. A small theatrical release of the film found Portman with her first success as a film composer, an ability she would continue to refine with steady work for the BBC in the coming years, winning the British Film Institute's Young Composer of the Year award in 1988.
A frequent collaborator of filmmaker Beeban Kidron (for whom she scored Used People (1992) and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) to name a few), Portman steadily gained recognition for her lush and emotional style, distinguishing herself with her moving compositions and richly organic scores. In 2000 Portman received her second Academy nomination for her score to Chocolat.
~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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Rachel Portman
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Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Rachel Portman
| Rachel Portman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman 11 December 1960 Haslemere, England |
| Children | 3 daughters |
Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman,[1] OBE (born 11 December 1960)[1] is a British composer, best known for her film work. She was the first female composer to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Score (for Emma in 1996). (Previously, female songwriters Barbra Streisand, in 1977, Buffy Sainte-Marie, in 1983, and Carly Simon, in 1989, each won Oscars, but in the category of Best Original Song).
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Life and career
Portman was born on 11 December 1960 in Haslemere, England, the daughter of Penelope (née Mowat) and Berkeley Charles Portman.[1] She was educated at Charterhouse School and Worcester College, Oxford.
Portman was nominated for an Academy Award for her scores for The Cider House Rules in 1999 and Chocolat in 2000. She has also composed the scores for dozens of other feature films, as well as an unused score for the film Dangerous Beauty (George Fenton replaced her, but some of her material still remains in the film). For television, she composed the score for all thirteen episodes of Jim Henson's The Storyteller, and two episodes of The Jim Henson Hour ("Monster Maker" and "Living with Dinosaurs").
Her other works include a children's opera, The Little Prince (which was later adapted for television) and a musical based upon the Laura Ingalls Wilder books Little House on the Prairie (2008). Portman was commissioned to write a piece of choral music for the BBC Proms series in August 2007.
On 19 May 2010, Rachel Portman was honored at the BMI Film & TV Awards with the Richard Kirk Award, which is bestowed on composers who have made significant contributions to the realm of film and television music. Portman made BMI history as she became the first woman composer to receive the honor, joining an elite list that includes Christopher Young, George S. Clinton, Mark Mothersbaugh, Danny Elfman, Alan Menken, Mike Post, Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, and John Williams.[2]
Portman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.[3]
Scores
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References
- ^ a b c Rachel Portman Biography (1960-)
- ^ "Rachel Portman Receives Richard Kirk Award at BMI Film & TV Music Awards". bmi.com. http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/548202. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59282. p. 11. 31 December 2009.
External links
- Rachel Portman Official Website
- Rachel Portman at the Internet Movie Database
- Rachel Portman at Chester Novello
- Rachel Portman at The Danish Filmmusic Society (DFS)
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Mentioned in
Benny & Joon
(1993 Album by Rachel Portman)
Emma [Original Score]
(1996 Album by Rachel Portman)
The Little Prince
(2004 Children's/Family Film)
Beloved
(1998 Album by Rachel Portman)
The Cider House Rules
(1999 Album by Rachel Portman)
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